F.A. Day Library: Families

When his mother takes in a twelve-year-old foster boy, Jarrett is forced to share his room and his friends with the new boy.

Carley struggles with being open to love after she suffers a betrayal that forces her to move in with a foster family.

After an eight-year absence, Dizzy's "New Age traveler" mother suddenly shows up on her twelfth birthday and whisks her away to a series of festivals throughout Scotland in her rattletrap van.

Relates the angst-ridden life of fourteen-year-old Libby Madrigal as she tries to deal with her unhappily married alcoholic father and overeating mother, moving to a new town, and finding the perfect boy to "seriously" kiss.

After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.

Tired of being obese and reeling from his father's recent stroke, thirteen-year-old Bennett joins the cross country team to find out if there is more to life than French fries.

Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunts and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.

Frustrated at life with an autistic brother, twelve-year-old Catherine longs for a normal existence but her world is further complicated by a friendship with an young paraplegic.

Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.

Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.

Jason, a twelve-year-old autistic boy who wants to become a writer, relates what his life is like as he tries to make sense of his world.

Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible in her family, and when tragedy strikes, the fragile bond holding everyone together is stretched almost to the breaking point.

Abandoned by his mother in an Acadia National Park campground, Jack tries to make his way back to Boston before anyone figures out what is going on, with only a small toy elephant for company.

When his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia, thirteen-year-old Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions, his school life, and his desire to support his family.

Sixth-grader Sugar and her mother lose their beloved house and experience the harsh world of homelessness.

Twelve-year-old Bluebell Gadsby's written and video diary chronicles life in a rowdy London family, and how Zoran, the new au pair, and Joss, the troublemaking boy next door, help to pull her out of her shell and cope with the loss of her twin three years before.

After the death of his older brother, Daniel Anderson became engrossed in recording details about dead people, how they died, and whether their deaths mattered but he is eventually drawn back into interaction with the living by two unexpected friends, Walter and Isabelle. Watch the book trailer!

Unable to accept the sudden death of his Japanese-American girlfriend Rosey, seventeen-year-old Franklin finds that she has come back to him as a spirit and eventually realizes that he must let her go.

Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.

Traumatized by grief and guilt after her younger brother dies during a family vacation, fifteen-year-old Shiv is sent away to an exclusive clinic that claims to "cure" people like her.

With his family still grieving over his sister's death in a terrorist bombing seven years earlier, ten-year-old Jamie is far more interested in his cat, Roger, his birthday Spider-Man T-shirt, and keeping his new Muslim friend, Sunya, a secret from his father.

A younger sister has a difficult time adjusting to life after her older sister has a mental breakdown.

The Cunningham brothers literally have money drop in their laps when a bag of cash falls from the sky; however, the crooks who initially stole the loot are hot on the trail to retrieve it.

Brilliant but socially-challenged Stewart and mean-girl Ashley must find common ground when his father moves in with her mother and blend the two families together. (EA, EB, CD)

Twelve-year-old Lafayette's close relationship with his older brother Charlie changes after Charlie is released from a detention home and blames Lafayette for the death of their mother.

Although they have never gotten along well, seventeen-year-old Levi follows his older brother Boaz, an ex-Marine, on a walking trip from Boston to Washington, D.C. in hopes of learning why Boaz is completely withdrawn.

Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Three Indian-British sisters team up to marry off their traditional, nosy aunt and get her out of the house.

Seventh-grade honor student Sierra Shepard faces expulsion after accidentally bringing a paring knife to school, violating the school's zero-tolerance policy.

In love with the girl he sneezed on the first day of school and best pals with Marshall, the "One Eyed Jack" of friends, seventh-grader Milo Cruikshank misses his mother whose death has changed everything at home.

Cap lives in isolation with his grandmother, a former hippie; but when she falls from a tree and breaks her hip, Cap is sent to a foster home where he has his first experience in a public school.

Justin spends time with Jinsen, the unusual and artistic new student whom the school bullies torment and call Buddha Boy, and ends up making choices that impact Jinsen, himself, and the entire school.

Seven fifth-graders at Snow Hill School in Connecticut relate how their lives are changed for the better by "rookie teacher" Mr. Terupt.